We have used trail cameras quite a bit on the reserve over the years. A few years back Andrea Campbell went on a quest to capture footage of an otter. One of my earliest Londolozi memories was setting a camera up to get photos of an aardvark and who could possibly forget the insane capture that the Panthera trail cameras got of the Tortoise Pan male catching an Nyala.
It’s so exciting setting one up and going back a few days later to see what has passed by.
Probably our greatest ever camera trap photo.
I started taking my GoPro action camera on drive with me for a little while to see if I could capture some different shots and was pleasantly surprised with the results. With a little more time on my hands at the moment I decided to try and use the GoPro as a trail camera and see what unique shots and footage I could get. There were a few obstacles I had to overcome though…
The video quality on a GoPro action camera is quite a lot higher than a Trail-Cam but it doesn’t get triggered to start recording when something walks past, so you have to keep it recording non-stop. This means that the battery life is not nearly as long as a trail camera and you can’t leave it out for a few days at a time. I knew that if I wanted to get something unique I would have to find an animal first and then try and anticipate where it would move to so I could disguise the camera and put it down quickly and quietly without them knowing that there was something there.
The pride advance towards where we had “hidden” the camera…
I constructed a very rudimentary housing to disguise the GoPro which consisted of a few branches and some elephant dung and set out looking for something to capture. The results were interesting to say the least…
My first opportunity came with the Ntsevu Pride. Early one morning we found them finishing off a zebra kill and sat with them until they started to move again. The benefit of this time of year is that there is a lot of long grass around and so when they are on the move they tend to favour the easiest route through an area and that is often the dirt road. It was because of this that I could drive some distance ahead of them and “disguise” the camera in the grass next to the road, pack a bit of elephant dung around the base to try and mask the scent and then hopefully watch this big pride of lions move past whilst it videoed them from an angle that we usually do not get.
With just the camera lens exposed we backed off some distance and waited for the pride to keep walking down the road.
Here’s what happened…
So much for a hidden camera!
I love camera traps. You never know what you catch while you are sleeping. We have got a trial cam that we put out while camping in Mabuasehube in Botswana. We caught the usual suspects, brown hyena, spotted hyena, black backed jackal and cape fox. The most exciting footage was a lion coming in to camp, and we did not even realize she was there. What was just as fantastic was when we put the cam up at the waterhole. I didn’t want Desmond to leave it there in the night as I wasxworried that an animal will take it, as what happened in your video with the lions. We caught leopard a few times and the best was wild dog drinking in the night from the waterhole. I can imagine that a go pro will give a much clearer picture, but you can’t just leave it for yhe whole night. I’ve read that it does get quite warm running continiously. Great capture of the lions. Would love to see more.
Hi Marinda, its always great fun setting them up!
James, Lions steel Go Pro! What a wonderful blog🤗
Hi Joan, glad you enjoyed it!
haha what an unruly bunch 🙂
Hi Nicole, haha…the curiosity of youth!
Ha Ha. A bit too curious
Hi Andrew and Daniel, they certainly were
The perspective is wonderful, but how did the camera hold up?!!!
Andee Burrell
Hi Andee, it held up surprisingly well!
Quite a sturdy thing to survive being the new lion’s rugbyball……. 😉
Hi Irene, they really are robust little cameras.
That was hilarious! I do hope the camera survived! Thanks so much for sharing your experiment, James!
Hi Darlene, thank goodness it did survive without even a scratch
That was a great, funny pick-me-up on a dreary day–hysterical!
Hi Vin, glad you enjoyed it!
😂😂 seems they are smarter than we think and discovered this alien thing, no matter the dung. I had a good chuckle over this and applaud your creativity and desire to capture lions from a unique angle. I would certainly try again!! Thank you for sharing….
Hi Denise, all animals are certainly always smarter than we think. We will give it another go though!
Awesome! Fun to watch and I’m amazed you got your GoPro back! I hope you try again!
Hi Mary Beth, so am I. With a few modifications we will try again to get some unique shots with the GoPro.
Ah, I would go back looking for the Otter.
Is Andrea still with you? I know she was doing something different than being a ranger, but she no longer gets mentioned.
I had one of my best ever drives with her (and after 20 trips to Africa – that is a hard earned compliment)
Hi Ian, the otter does seem a safer choice! Andrea has moved to Hoedspruit and is still involved in the industry. I will definitely pass on the compliment!
Oh my gosh James, did they eventually drop it, or has not been seen again? I wonder what condition it would be in 🙂 Thank you. Stay healthy in your paradise
Hi Wendy, they did eventually drop it and luckily there were no teeth marks on it believe it or not.
Oh well, I’m confident that this will lead to other, more successful experiments with the GoPro!!
Hi Paul, with a few modifications to the disguise we will see what more we can get.
You were lucky to get it back and luckier that it still worked! A hyaena would have crunched it to smithereens!
Hi Bob and Lucie, I will definitely need to rethink my camera housing before trying to get any unique shots of Hyena.
Curious lion cubbies playing Keep Away with the Go Pro camera!
Hi Lisa, Yes I definitely underestimated their curiosity!
Lions cubs just love hidden camera ……
Proving “curiosity killed the cat” is just a myth.
That is interesting.
That lion is a heck of a good videographer! Great footage- maybe you should hire him! That was quite fun-thank you 🙂
Hello James! Incredible! They are smart! Very fun and interesting to read about and to see the film! Was it difficult to find the camera, to get it back? It seems that cameras are very popular, everywhere…
Thank you for sharing!
Boy….they didn’t hesitate one second but went straight for it! I was laughing as they played with it and grinned as I thought of an adult lion running with the camera in it’s mouth! Wonderful idea and hope you do it again!
Best intentions. Very enjoyable footage.
Well, you win some and you lose some, I guess!!! Fantastic video!
James, Nice try and what a riot! Thanks for a good laugh!
I missed this story too! Gosh, but I’m so enjoying catching up. James this had me falling about, shouldn’t laugh really at the expense of your GOPro but it was so entertaining 🙏🏻💕😂